A Question and Answer session with European Green Transition PLC
The TMS Team catch up with EGT CFO Jack Kelly and discuss carbon credits, tariffs and revenue generating assets.
Interviewer – Hi Jack, thanks for joining us. Can you comment on the Carbon credits and the opportunity here?
Jack – Last year, we entered into an exclusive option agreement to investigate the potential to develop a carbon and biodiversity credit project at the 1,370-acre Altan farm in Donegal in the northwest of Ireland. The project aims to generate carbon and biodiversity credits through a pilot peatland rehabilitation project at Altan. Once generated, European Green Transition would sell these credits to a range of corporate players who are looking to invest in Irish nature-based restoration projects to support their net zero targets. EGT is keeping this project as capital light as possible, partnering with landowners in a revenue-sharing agreement rather than buying the land. The project aims to establish a consistent revenue stream by generating carbon and biodiversity credits. The Irish Peatland Standard was launched in early 2025 which is a significant step for the project. This framework brings together stakeholders from government, semi-state bodies, and local communities to direct capital to restoration projects by producing and facilitating the sale of verified nature certificates such as carbon credits. There is a significant opportunity to be one of the first movers in Ireland in the generation of these credits. We are also seeking to scale the project. We are actively engaging with large landowners near our project in Donegal with the view to significantly scaling the size of the project and the quantity of credits that can be generated.
Interviewer – How do tariffs (as far as we know) effect #EGT?
Jack – EGT’s sole focus is on Europe and European markets and our feeling is that tariffs could create further opportunities for EGT. As geopolitical tensions have increased, particularly between the Trump Administration and China, Rare Earths have become a critical bargaining chip in discussions with China banning the export of certain rare earths and China controlling a significant majority of the refining and processing of Rare Earths. Given Rare Earth’s importance to critical industries in Europe such as renewables and defence, it is critical that Europe has a stable supply of Rare Earths to service this demand for permanent magnets. EGT’s Olserum REE project has the potential to be a significant European based source of supply of critical Rare Earths hence we believe the project has got more attractive since the onset of the tariffs.
Interviewer – How would you describe yourselves if not as a Mining Company? What assets will you specifically look to get involved with?
Jack – We are a company looking to capitalise on the huge volume of opportunities created by Europe’s transition to a greener, more sustainable economy. Our focus is on identifying distressed, undervalued businesses and transforming these into sustainable, cash generative businesses. Our current resources and focus is on acquiring a distressed revenue generating business in the green economy e.g. recycling, support services to green infrastructure assets, repowering, housing decarbonisation, etc. We currently have mining assets which we are seeking to monetise through sale or partnership. We have brought these mining assets through significant value inflection points, extended the licences and are now looking to sell these mining assets to third parties
Interviewer – With the current market conditions, does that offer EGT even more options to acquire at vastly discounted prices?
Jack – We still see significant opportunities in the space where we can acquire businesses at a low valuation and generate significant upside. Financing has become more expensive for a number of green companies as the age of low interest rates of 2020/2021 has gone. This has created a number of distressed, undervalued opportunities which we believe we can capitalise on. Our management team have the track record of restructuring these types of struggling businesses, making significant operational improvements and generate significant value and we are confident we can implement this approach in the near future with EGT
Interviewer – Any time frame for acquiring the assets?
Jack – We are currently in discussions with a number of potentially attractive opportunities. However, there is a key focus on identifying the right deal and getting it for the right price to ensure we can maximise value for our shareholders. We are looking to complete a deal in the near future and we are looking forward to updating investors when appropriate.
Interviewer – To confirm, are we only looking at revenue generating assets only?
Jack – The key criteria is to identify a revenue generating business or assets. This includes no or minimal development, or technological risk in the target business. We want to acquire a proven business. We don’t want to target a development stage project or a business looking to begin commercialisation of a project. We want to see a clear path to profitability and cash flow generation. We feel that in the current market this is the best approach to maximise shareholder returns by focusing on later stage projects. We see a huge number of distressed opportunities that meet this criteria and our focus is on acquiring one of these in the near future at an attractive valuation.
.
The challenges – and opportunities – for UK markets in 2025
.
#EGT was featured in our 20 Mining Companies to follow for 2025 – Part 1 (A-E)
.
Click here for the latest Company Corporate presentation
